Jon Anderson wrote:

On 8/8/2011 10:58 PM, David Billington wrote:
Jon Anderson wrote:
On 8/8/2011 6:17 PM, Ned Simmons wrote:

The elements are over $100 each for the 1500.

ooh... looks like I'm shopping for a step down transformer...

Thanks,


Jon
Or work out how much wire, such as Kanthal A1, you need and wind your
own, it's quite easy to do.

Outside of the casting it into the walls bit... I've only used this oven
half a dozen times in 10 years. If I have to do without, I'll certainly
survive, and I have no shortage of issues to work out regarding this
move. The oven is a minor bit, but still, one of the pieces of the
puzzle... Swapping for a 220 oven is my easiest option, but will look
into this further.

The voltage converter I was looking at on eBay mentions not using it for
loads generating heat, which I took to mean resistive loads.
So I think I'll look up an electrician friend of a friend and ask about
sizing a step down transformer. Would be nice if I could get something
that would handle 3x my biggest anticipated load, and from that, wire US
outlets for my stuff. I've got a whole box of outlets, switches, boxes,
covers, male and female plugs, etc to take so I can have two parallel
circuits. 110 for my stuff, and the native 220 outlets for things I'll
be buying there.

Jon

You *do not* want any "voltage converter", they are only intended for
odd little appliances for travelers. What you need is a proper
continuous duty rated transformer, and 240/480 to 120/240 transformers
are quite common in the US and will do the job if you wire them for 240
in and 240 out. In this configuration they will accept your 240 only
input, and provide a 120/240 center tapped output consistent with US
power. These transformers are commonly used to provide local 120/240
power from 480 feeders in industrial settings, and can be found used
pretty readily in most any size imaginable.